Question: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ x^2 + 14 x + 40 }$ What is the domain of the real-valued function $f(x)$ ?
Answer: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ x^2 + 14 x + 40 } = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 8 } }{ ( x + 10 )( x + 4 ) }$ First, we need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the radical is undefined, so the radicand (the expression under the radical) cannot be less than zero. So $x - 8 \geq 0$ , which means $x \geq 8$ Next, we also need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the denominator is zero. So $x \neq -10$ and $x \neq -4$ However, these last two restrictions are irrelevant since $8 > -10$ and $8 > -4$ and so $x \geq 8$ will ensure that $x \neq -10$ and $x \neq -4$ Combining these restrictions, then, leaves us with simply $x \geq 8$ Expressing this mathematically, the domain is $\{ \, x \in \RR \mid x \geq8\, \}$.